Page 9 of Dear Billionaire Boss
She closes her laptop. “Did anyone see you?”
“No, of course not.”
“It’s a reasonable question.”
I know she’s right, but we were careful. “I asked about cameras and we didn’t leave together, in case anyone saw us walk out.”
Grayson was insistent that he walk me to my car, but I told him we couldn’t start acting differently. I didn’t want to give anyone a reason to think something might have happened.
“What about you, did your professor get his letter?
She shrugs. “I don’t know. I only realized the letters were missing when I went to get rid of them this morning.”
“Did you call Cassidy or Lucy?”
“Cassidy is on her way to her brother’s wedding, so I’m not sure how much time she will have checking her messages. But Lucy, hasn’t been answering my calls.”
“She’s got her family thing this week,” I remind her.
Willa pulls a face, suddenly realizing that Lucy’s silence may not be actually be guilt but family obligations that’s keeping her from answering.
“I don’t understand what happened,” Willa runs her fingers through her hair. “Why would any of us send those letters out?”
“Maybe we didn’t. Maybe the universe decided to take it upon itself to push our little baby bird asses out of the nest to see if we could fly.”
Willa does not look amused. “I’m not laughing at this, Maren. We all aren’t lucky enough to have the guy our letters were sent out to immediately jump our bones. Besides, you need to be careful. If anyone finds out about this, you are the one that people are going to look down on. The women in this type of situations are always the ones that get the reputation. And the guy is high-fived by his friends for banging the hot assistant.”
“You’re right.”
Even though this is not news to me, her words land right on target with me. The euphoria I was just feeling drops like a brick in my chest to my stomach. If anyone finds out, I’m going to look like I’m trying to sleep my way to the top—which isn’t true. I didn’t plan this. I didn’t seek him out. My plan was to work for Grayson until I paid off my school loans or found a job that I enjoyed doing. And before the mess of him confronting me with the letter and us hooking up in the conference room, I’d seriously been considering applying my degree to start some event planning business.
Did I just totally derail my future for guy that didn’t look at me twice before I spilled my feelings in a letter?
* * *
I spend the next few days making sure that I’m not alone with Grayson.
At work, I make sure to keep his schedule packed so that he doesn’t have time to try and pull me into his office alone during work hours. At home, He’s tried calling and texting my phone, but I keep giving him excuses that I’m busy making sure that all the last-minute arrangements are good to go for the party.
The night before the party, there’s a knock at the door. Willa is at the university working on some kind of research project and won’t be home until later. I peek through the peep hole and see the familiar, yet slightly distorted, face of Grayson. I didn’t even know he knew where I lived.
I look down at the pajamas I have on. A light pink tank top and pajama shorts with flying pigs in the clouds. I’m about to make a run for my room to change, but Grayson knocks again.
“Come on, Maren. I know you’re in there,” he calls through the door.
I sigh and unlock the door. Grayson is standing in the hallway of our building still in the suit he wore to work. His hands are in his pockets and he’s looking down.
“What are you doing here?” I ask.
He looks up, and for the first time, I see the dark circles under his eyes. I’ve barely been able to make eye contact with him for fear of losing myself to him.
“I need to speak with you,” he says, his tone much rougher than normal.
“Come in.” I step back out of the door frame to give him room to come in, but he doesn’t move.
“I can’t stay. I just wanted to give you this.” He reaches into his suit pocket and pulls out the worn teal envelope. “I figured since you’ve been avoiding me like the plague, you regret what happened between us. And I’m sure you want this back.”
I don’t want to take it from him. I don’t want this to end but I can’t see another way. I need this job, and I can’t get a reputation for sleeping with my boss. I take the envelope, ready to tell him everything, but he doesn’t wait around. He turns and takes the steps down two at a time to get away from me.
